By KATE GENO After selling his company Johnson Properties, Inc. to BARBERMurphy Group in January, Terry Johnson joined the expanded company as a broker and continues to serve his longtime clients. BARBER-Murphy Group is now considered the largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in Southern Illinois. Johnson BARBERMurphy Group has a total of 18 experienced brokers working in 20 counties in Southern Illinois. The company has expanded its research, property listings and informational systems, with the goal of creating the most comprehensive market data. “2014 has been a very successful year so far,” says Johnson. “The opportunity to join BARBERMurphy Group was a highlight. It is also shaping up to be one of my most productive years since the recession started, with the closing of 10 commercial real estate transactions totaling $8 million in gross sales.” Johnson’s career in commercial real estate will reach the 30-year mark in 2015. His specialty is in office, retail and land development in St. Clair and Madison counties. He has brokered many high-profile transactions in the region including The Fountains at Fairview, The Shoppes at St. Clair, The Shoppes at Green Mount, Memorial Hospital East in Shiloh, Wolf Creek Office Park in Swansea, Theater View Commercial Park and Sunset Hills Commercial Park in Edwardsville. His largest transaction so far this year was the sale of a 40,000-square-foot Class A office building at 720 W. Main St. in Belleville. The City of Belleville purchased the property for $3.1 million and will transform it into the new police station in the near future. Johnson also negotiated the long term lease for HSHS Medical Group, parent company of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, for a new 5,500-square-foot medical building in Shiloh that is currently under construction. In Edwardsville, Johnson brokered two restaurant sites on Highway 157. Hotshots Bar and Grill is currently under construction and Six North Cafe will break ground in the city next year. Johnson is currently pre-leasing 12,000 to 24,000 square feet in a two-story Class A office building that will be built at 445 Regency Park Drive fronting I-64 in O’Fallon. The project will break ground in early 2015, pending 50 percent pre-leasing occupancy. BARBERMurphy Group has a highly experienced team of commercial real estate brokers in this market area. Specializing in commercial and industrial real estate, development land sales, 1,031 exchanges and investment properties throughout Southern Illinois, it currently has more than 500 active real estate listings.